Blame it on me keeping the fridge well stocked with the food I love. Obviously. So, when I decide to throw something together, I want to throw it ALLLL together. Believe me, it can get weird. Every once in a while it doesn't turn out like my taste buds imagined, but I won't share those flops with you.
What I will share is the dish that took me twenty-seven minutes to make, and roughly twenty-four SECONDS to consume. Not to toot my own horn, but it was that good : )
Side Note: I'm a RICE LOVER. Not the brown rice that is decent for you. The starchy, long-grain, jasmine white rice. The unhealthier one. Story. of. my. life.
Well, folks, I've found a new substitution that I almost equally love and is much healthier. A protein. Quinoa.
This recipe, (that I promise I will get to. . . eventually) is the 4th meal I've made this week, that included Quinoa. It truly is versatile. You can prepare it SOOO many ways. And this is one of them.
When I began to concoct this dish, I knew of course that the base would be the quinoa, but like I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I couldn't decide what to add and leave out. Some of the options from the pantry/fridge were sun dried tomatoes, onions, capers, spinach, an avocado, hummus, cauliflower, broccoli, artichokes, garlic, plum tomatoes, and so on. TOO many decisions. Really did contemplate adding it all, but that would be overboard, and my need for a quick lunch didn't allow it.
So this is what I ended up using. Minus the hummus and plus some seasonings.
INGREDIENTS - all approx. I didn't exactly measure when I made it ( :
1/2 cup - uncooked, pre-washed, quinoa (make sure it is pre-washed so you don't have to worry about rinsing it yourself and removing all the bitter coating)
1/2 cup - chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 avocado
couple handfuls of baby spinach
1 sweet onion
1/2 tsp garlic
teal knife ( : (optional)
S&P to taste
few drops of sriracha or a hot sauce of your choice.
DIRECTIONS
First cook the quinoa. You can prepare it ahead of time like I did the night before( just left overs from my previous quinoa meal), but to cook it you just add the quinoa, broth, and 1/2 cup of water to a small pot. Turn the heat on high. Once it starts boiling, turn the heat down, cover it, and let it simmer for about 15 min or until the liquid is absorbed.
Next, slice your sweet onion and saute it. Just like in the brussel sprout recipe.
It should look something like this. You know.
Then, add the spinach until it wilts and looks something like this.
After that, add the garlic. Then the avocado (you could slice it up before you add it, but I just scooped the half out and sliced it up with my spatula while I was stirring it in). Throw in 1/2 cup of the cooked quinoa, S&P, and sriracha. Stir around for a bit, til its nicely mixed and smell-good.
You know what to do next.
This only made one serving and I probably could have eaten for 3. So if your hungry or you make it for more than one, definitely double it ( :
